Stories

Every art work tells a story. Most works tell many stories: What is shown in the painting? What isn’t shown? Why was this work made? Who paid for this work to be made? Why was it chosen to be in a museum collection? How did the circumstances of the artist’s life lead to them becoming an artist?You can absolutely enjoy a work without having any interest in its stories. However, we all bring our own stories with us when viewing art. The story you ‘read’ depends very much on your own personal story. Some of these works re-tell a famous story ( for example 'Circe offering the Cup for Ulysses'), while others leave you to imagine the story ('Bonjour Pierrot' is one of these).